Supreme Court to review controversial pot shop ruling in Lake Forest

Evergreen Holistic was one of eight dispensaries located in a building on Raymond Way. The pot shops were shutdown by federal agents in 2011, once City Attorney Scott Smith asked for federal help in the city's fight against the shops. .REPORTED BY ERIKA I. RITCHIE, PHOTO ANA VENEGAS

In a March decision the Appeals Court ruled in favor of Evergreen Holistic, a former Lake Forest medical marijuana collective in which they found that cities cannot shut down a medical marijuana dispensary that cultivates its own marijuana. In that decision justices struck down a city injunction by a trial judge on the medical marijuana dispensary, saying the city cannot shut down dispensaries as a wholesale nuisance.

Judges said that a collective that includes a dispensary function — growing its own pot — does not constitute a nuisance.

In its ruling, the three-judge panel said medical marijuana dispensaries can only sell pot from where it's cultivated and cannot be brought from somewhere else and dispensed at a store. The ruling is the latest in a string of cases that attempts to interpret the state's medical marijuana law and provide guidance for cities and counties that are trying to curtail pot shops.

Jeff Dunn, who has represented the city in its more than two-year fight to shut down nearly 40 medical marijuana dispensaries, said the decision by the Supreme Court to review the Appeals Court ruling is significant because it impacts every city. He said the Appeals Court ruling has been the only decision that stated a city cannot ban a dispensary just for being a dispensary.

Now with the Supreme Court’s decision to grant review, it makes the appellate decision no longer a published decision, meaning the decision can no longer be used as a foundation for decisions in other court cases.

“We are very pleased that the California Supreme Court agreed with the city of Lake Forest to review the decision. The court will be providing much needed guidance in this ever-changing area of law,” Dunn said about Thursday’s decision.

For David Welch, a Los Angeles-based attorney who represented Evergreen in the appeal, the March was significant because it gave dispensaries an opportunity to show they were operating legally.

“Evergreen has to prove now that they were operating constituent with state law," he said in March. “This gives them an opportunity to show they were operating legally. This was a threshold question. Now cities have to prove they're operating illegally. The fact that they are a dispensary is not enough.”

Dunn said in March the city had formally requested the Court of Appeal not to go forward with its decision in this case because three previous cases are already headed to the California Supreme Court.

Dunn pointed to cases last fall such as a Los Angeles-based appellate court that in November struck down Long Beach's attempt to license pot stores, ruling the local ordinance conflicted with federal law.

And another appellate court upheld Riverside's right to close and prohibit dispensaries despite the state's medical marijuana law. A third appellate court ruling related to the city of Dana Point concluded that dispensary customers can't sue a city for banning medical marijuana, only a dispensary can do that.

“When you have decisions that are in conflict, the Supreme Court can settle the differences,” he said.

What makes the recent case against Evergreen Holistic, one of the last dispensaries in Lake Forest to be shutdown by federal agents last fall, most concerning is the threat to the public, Dunn said.

“Across the state where we've had claimed medical marijuana operations, there have been lots of crime including murders,” Dunn said. “This is a serious public safety risk. It's not whether medical marijuana should be used. It's about unscrupulous operators who have hijacked the California medical marijuana law for their own profit.”

Dunn points to three recent raids by a drug task force and sheriff's deputies at Charles Café, a medical marijuana storefront that continually defied police after being ordered to shutdown.

The raids resulted in the arrest of two men and included a recovery of more than 20 of marijuana, edibles and $37,000. Task force members also raided two homes in Newport Beach, a home in Irvine and a home in Long Beach all believed to be connected to the Lake Forest dispensary.

“To say cities can't use their public safety authority to fight this is a huge concern,” Dunn said. “This is the example. This is real life. This is exactly what Lake Forest is trying to combat.”

Evergreen Holistic was one of eight dispensaries located in a building on Raymond Way. The pot shops were shutdown by federal agents in 2011, once City Attorney Scott Smith asked for federal help in the city's fight against the shops. . REPORTED BY ERIKA I. RITCHIE, PHOTO ANA VENEGAS
Jeff Dunn has spent more than two years helping Lake Forest fight nearly 40 pot shops. He has also fought cases throughout California. “To say cities can't use their public safety authority to fight this is a huge concern,” Dunn said. “This is the example. This is real life. This is exactly what Lake Forest is trying to combat.” PHOTO H.LORREN AU JR., TEXT BY ERIKA I. RITCHIE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
City officials sued the medical marijuana dispensaries on Raymond Way in April 2011 finding that they were within 600 feet of a school. Federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit against the landlord of the strip mall building in October 2011. All shops have been shutdown. REPORTED BY ERIKA I. RITCHIE,THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, PHOTO ANA VENEGAS

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